The Department of Russian Language and Literature seeks to cultivate graduates with both knowledge and experience in Russian politics, economy, society, and culture. To achieve this goal, language fluency is a must. Major students first focus on Russian language and then move on to literature and culture.

The department supplies a systematic education in Russian grammar starting from the very basics to advanced levels and offers various programs in reading, writing and speaking as well. It also provides courses in linguistics and historical linguistics for those students with an academic interest in Russian language as a subject. The department has a scholarly exchange contract with Moscow State University - this not only enables a qualified Russian professor from MSU to come to Seoul National University every year, but also allows SNU students to attend summer language school or winter semester classes at MSU. Three Russian-major students at SNU are invited to study abroad at MSU every year.

After acquiring a reading-knowledge in Russian, students proceed to courses on Russian literature and culture. From the 19th century up to the present, Russian literature has had a great influence on the world literature. The department offers a number of courses organized by period, genre, and author, which introduce students to Russian masterpieces and the creative worlds of the great Russian writers. Students are encouraged to explore major Russian works in the context of Western literature as a whole, and also examine its influence on modern Korean literature, depending on their interest in comparative literature studies.

Graduates of the Department of Russian Language and Literature have been contributing to Russo-Korean relations in various fields including politics, diplomacy, journalism, tourism, commerce, and higher education.